Linux. The TPU way.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Hello! :)

I have recently ventured into the vast world of linux.. and I must say I am quite happy. While trying this and still very much learning I have searched endlessly for an easy guide to getting linux going and a good support place for it, but not able to find much, I have begun this. My guide to linux. I would like everyone to feel free to contribute knowledge to fill in holes you find in this guide. Hopefully once its grown a fair bit, it will earn its spot on the TPU front page.

Nothing like an open source guide to an open source operating system!

Introduction to linux
Linux is a unique creation. This guide is aimed primarily at those computer enthusiasts that have grown up with windows, and thats all you know, but are very interested in linux. Thats where I came from. I had always been a windows buff and pretty decent with mac os X now, but i have always struggled with linux. But no more! :o

Here's kind of wizard that tells you which distro(s) would suit you the best:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?firsttime=true


Getting started
Materials needed: A CD-r or two(or more) depending on the distro (Possibly even a DvD-R), free hard drive space, time, and willingness to learn. Pretty easy eh?

First we'll look at Distros.


I would like to suggest a site a friend introduced me to, http://distrowatch.com . They keep an updated list of the top distros and provide a lot of information about a distro aswall as reliable mirrors to download them.

As a newbie, I have tried many distros recently, Ubuntu, Mandriva, FreeBSD, and in the past I have used red hat, gentoo and knoppix.

Good begining distros are:
Ubuntu
Mandriva
Suse
Xandros
Linspire
Debian
Vector
Fedora Core
Red Hat


I started my entire linux career off with what would be redhat 5.1. Dang thats old now. Since then they have improved it greatly!

If you dont have a CD Burner Ubuntu has a program setup that they can send you a few free CD's. This is a very nice package, especially for people like me that hand it out to anyone that wants one.. The package comes with a Ubuntu Install CD and a Live CD.

http://img.techpowerup.org/060202/ubuntu.jpg

Live CD's

Live CD's are a very cool addition to the OS toolkit. Instead of booting to the CD, allocating hard drive space for the install and starting it up, using a live cd you can boot right to the CD and have a working OS right there. It never touches your hard drive so if you mess something up or get confused, just power off and your computer is back to the way it was before.:toast:

Very good live CD's are all over. This will also help with determining compatability with your system before wasting time to install and to find out its gonna freak out on ya ;)

The History Of Linux

here is a very good page not to detailed just somewhat watered down version of the history of linux this really doesnt have any "real" value to the guide but i thought it important. History o linux (http://library.thinkquest.org/C003740/history.html)

odd fact: linus choose "Tux" the penguin as the mascoot because while far down below in the southern hemisphere linus wlaked up to one to take a closer look and it bit his finger. here is a link to the history of "Tux" Tux (http://www.sjbaker.org/tux/)


Linux Kernel Information! (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-kernel/?S_TACT=105AGX59&S_CMP=GR&ca=dgr-btw01LKernalAnatomy)

Commands

mkfs formats a partition

[Dippyskoodlez]

*Reserved*

[Solaris17]

All right i need to leave in like 5min. so i can contribute very little.
First if anybody who has never tried,used or seen linux and is intrested here is a site i usually go to. www.linuxiso.org/ (http://www.linuxiso.org/) here you can download linux .iso files and burn them to a cd.

For begginers and ppl who can read my bad spelling here are some usefull distros that arent too challenging to begin with.

Ubantu
Suse
XanderOS
Debian
Linspire
Vector
Fedora Core
Mandriva
Mandrake
^ i tried to make that list in order from easyest to hardest but their isnt that much diff.

** ill put more sites up later and a list for more experianced users though the ones above would be exellent for experianced users also because linux is so flexible it really doesnt matter.**

Experianced users
Gentoo

also u can get live cd's for those who maybe just whant to try it. though usually u have the option to try it or install at boot here are a couple names.

Live Cd's
Knoppix
Overclockix
Damn Small Linux
Linspire

remember usually while running live(off the disc) your options may be limited so if things dont work right or u cant figure something out its to be expected.Also most Distrobutions come with or have (on a seperate disk) a live cd option. so go ahead try and experiment ;)

ok guys im off to school later.
:cool:

**Edit: thats the other site DistroWatch (http://www.distrowatch.com/) this site is better than linuxiso and offers more.

[zAAm]

I think you meant http://distrowatch.com Dippyskoodlez. Or you know of another site that's offline atm? I used Mandriva. Version 10 I think. Just a hassle to install ATI drivers. No 3D Acceleration... ;)

[Dippyskoodlez]

I think you meant http://distrowatch.com Dippyskoodlez. Or you know of another site that's offline atm? I used Mandriva. Version 10 I think. Just a hassle to install ATI drivers. No 3D Acceleration... ;)

ooh guess it is.. lol http://distrowatch.org works aswell.. but redirects.. ty

[Anarion]

well this is realy a nice work to be done . but afaik or afa i used , linux just mean server .

many years ago ,me , have been in some os developments group, on an old BBS , we design alot of net figure those days but @last we put it away coz it was huge (we don't know well somethings those days &.... laziness) well said all of this to conclude with just one word .

open source mean poor . don't leave it , learn , but never hope high ,

[DanTheBanjoman]

Might be handy to install VMware or VirtualPC to try out Linux if you're new to it. Goes for any OS actually.

[Anarion]

Bochs is better (u have everything in ctrl )

[Solaris17]

The History Of Linux

here is a very good page not to detailed just somewhat watered down version of the history of linux this really doesnt have any "real" value to the guide but i thought it important. History o linux (http://library.thinkquest.org/C003740/history.html)

odd fact: linus choose "Tux" the penguin as the mascoot because while far down below in the southern hemisphere linus wlaked up to one to take a closer look and it bit his finger. here is a link to the history of "Tux" Tux (http://www.sjbaker.org/tux/)

if anything i have written is wrong do feel free to correct me.

and if your new to linux dont be overcome by the scope or sophistication of this operating system it is very fun it is a bit challenging yes but not very and whats life without a tad bit of challenge ;)

[Migons]

Here's kind of wizard that tells you which distro(s) would suit you the best:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?firsttime=true

(ps. thanks for the Linux section, actually 80% of our household's comps are Linuxes/Unixes :))

[W1zzard]

Here's kind of wizard that tells you which distro(s) would suit you the best:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?firsttime=true

(ps. thanks for the Linux section, actually 80% of our household's comps are Linuxes/Unixes :))

gave me fedora, what i already use :)

where's the "i dont need one" answer when it asks for which desktop you like ?

[Migons]

where's the "i dont need one" answer when it asks for which desktop you like ?


Heh, maybe they're boycotting non-gui users.. :laugh:

[W1zzard]

gui is for the weak

[Thermopylae_480]

There is something satisfying about a text based interface. I don't know if its flexibility or nostalgia for the old DOS days. :)

[W1zzard]

it's the most flexible way of doing things for me. also it's often faster to do something.

[Dippyskoodlez]

lol it gave me: Mandriva, Suse, Kubuntu, debian and mepis..

hehe.. and I run mandriva.. works for me.. :D

[CUSACKOTG]

i have suse 10.0 on 40gb hdd- installed but i wish to wipe it- cant remember the partitioning - was a few weeks ago now- i want to wipe the disk and start again- slowly- installing suse 10.o again.

what disk formatting utilities can i use- apart from the one which is already on the suse disk 1 that is.
......?

apol. for the newbie/ dummie qu's but have only been into computers for a couple of years and i like to think than i learn somethin new everi day

thanks in advance

jl

[W1zzard]

mkfs formats a partition

[PVTCaboose1337]

I got Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian...

Guess what? I use Ubuntu indeed!

That test is correct for me...

[Dippyskoodlez]

I got Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian...

Guess what? I use Ubuntu indeed!

That test is correct for me...

they need to add os x.. :laugh:

[Migons]

they need to add os x.. :laugh:

I hope they won't, it's not Linux, even though Darwin is UNIX derivate.

[Dippyskoodlez]

I hope they won't, it's not Linux, even though Darwin is UNIX derivate.


its so much nicer than windows, and its very similar to linux.. i would say learning linux using mac os x as an intro would be very effective.. the terminal behaves just like it would in linux.. and its a bit harder to kill things :laugh:

then again, it isnt free :(

There is a darwin tho.. but its definatly not user friendly yet and probably never will be.

[Migons]

its so much nicer than windows, and its very similar to linux.. i would say learning linux using mac os x as an intro would be very effective.. the terminal behaves just like it would in linux.. and its a bit harder to kill things :laugh:

You're right, but why to list Mac OS X while Linux with KDE/Gnome is so similar to it? Well, almost.. BSDs aren't listed either, even they are pretty similar to Linuxes too.

In my opinion, it almost exactly same to learn Linux in real Linux or Mac OS... But of course it's better to learn Linux in Linux ;)

[Dippyskoodlez]

You're right, but why to list Mac OS X while Linux with KDE/Gnome is so similar to it? Well, almost.. BSDs aren't listed either, even they are pretty similar to Linuxes too.

In my opinion, it almost exactly same to learn Linux in real Linux or Mac OS... But of course it's better to learn Linux in Linux ;)

yeah, but apples aqua gui is... just.. soooo much better than KDE or gnome will ever be :(

[Migons]

yeah, but apples aqua gui is... just.. soooo much better than KDE or gnome will ever be :(

But KDE and Gnome (and others) are soooooooo much cheaper than Aqua will ever be :cool:

[ShadowFlare]

Here's kind of wizard that tells you which distro(s) would suit you the best:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?firsttime=true

(ps. thanks for the Linux section, actually 80% of our household's comps are Linuxes/Unixes :))
Hmm, for the perfect matches it gave me Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva, and Fedora; all of the ones I was considering when setting up Linux on my computer. I installed Debian, but I have been considering trying those others, too. However, if I can get an e-mail server working on it, I'll probably just leave it as is. BTW, I do not have it as the main OS on this computer or even in a dual-boot configuration. I am currently running it in Virtual PC 2004.

[v-zero]

Mepis should be added to the beginners list, because it is just so easy...;)

[POGE]

While I am by no means a linux pro, I have tried many distro's and I have found knoppix to be the most friendly of all, even compared to the full featured distros.

[Steevo]

I like Debian.

However back a year or twoo ago I was into trying out many different versions and flavors. And I still have my Debian 2.2 soemwhere around.

[Dippyskoodlez]

gave me fedora, what i already use :)

where's the "i dont need one" answer when it asks for which desktop you like ?

If you need to put that, you already know which distro you want :laugh:

Edit: Just took that distro selection test again, and it gave me mandriva and Kubuntu.

I use mandriva now.. :)

Its spot on!

[Telexen]

If you can get passed the "Gentoo Politics" and the constant reminder that Gentoo is being held back because of it, then it's hard to beat Gentoo ;)

[gamer210]

Here's kind of wizard that tells you which distro(s) would suit you the best:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?firsttime=true


That thing seems to be pretty accurate. It recommended Ubuntu, which I am currently using, and Debian. I also recently purchased a linux magazine that did a pretty good comparison between several different distro's. If you guys want, I could probably scan some of the pages and post them later today.

[Atech]

If you can get passed the "Gentoo Politics" and the constant reminder that Gentoo is being held back because of it, then it's hard to beat Gentoo ;)
Damn right. All that QA bollocks, we shouldn't just have nightly ebuild updates, we should have hourly svn ebuild updates (user submitted)!

[Kursah]

It suggested Mandriva, Ubuntu, OpenSuSe, Kubuntu and Fedora when I become more Linux knowlegable. I may have to create a dual boot config and see which one I like...

[7mm]

I've Been Intoduced To Linux In August 1999, With RedHat 6........Bundled With Mag. I've Tried The TBI (Text Based Installer), The Only Option Available Then. I End-Up Distroy'n All My Data On 4.3GB HDD. When It Did Get Installed (After Giving 23 Days To The InBuild Partition Manager), The GUI Crossed The Limit of The Monitor. Later Came To Know That Linux Has Hardware Issues That Can Keep People Away From It, No One Wanted To Try Even As Not Many Apps Available Either. Known To Be Geeks OS.

It Cahnged a Bit With 2002, When I Got My Hands On Mandrake (Now Mandriva). Boy I Was Surprised With Ease of Installation Procedure. It's Done In No Time But Again, Linux's Half-Way-Grown Image Prov'n, My Sound Card Not Get Detected. With Gnome & KDE Both Installed Hardly Any Apps That Can Run In Both Envir'nments.....Forced Me To Choose Just One As My Printer Ran Wel With KDE & Partitions From Windows (FAT32) Detected In Gnome Only. Left The Workshop.

Since Than I've Tried Many Distros.................RedHat 9, SuSE (30 Day Trial), Fedora 4, Ubuntu 5.x, Ubuntu / Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10, 7.04 (Both 32-Bit & 64-Bit), OpenSuSE 10.1, Fedora 7, Mandriva 2007 With KDE & Now PCLinuxOS 2007.

Ubuntu Has Been My Favourite Among' Anything. Though You Need Have Internet Access To Use It To Full. As Default Installed OS, Not Many Audio / Video Codecs Provided, Needs To Do Some Basic / Advanced Updates To Bring It In Full Action. Unlike PCLinuxOS2007 With KDE, Comes PreLoaded With Much More Stuff As Multimedia Functions Works Well Without Updates. Which Makes More Sense For People In Remote Area Without The Internet Facilities. Though It's Just Few Functions (Popular Audio / Video Codecs, Firewall) & Apps (Gnucash, CAD App)Which Can Be Fixed In Next Release With Ubuntu - New One Every 6 Months, & That's What Makes It More Likely To Be The OS To Be Installed On PC Owner With Hardly Any Linux / Computer Knowledge.

This Was Just The Experiance With Linux That I Have So Far, Though Putting Story of 8 Years Older May Not Make Sense, But With Such Experiense I Can Still Pic The Best So Far. Thank You All For Your Valuable Time & Attention.

[average..]

hmm.. the test gave me Gentoo and Slackware, i left slack for gentoo a couple years back so yea thats a good test there..

Gentoo with Fluxbox... its all i need.

[cdawall]

w1z you should make a tpu distro of linux :roll: that would be amazing

[asb2106]

Well I have used Linux here and there the last 2 years, but I just cannot stick with no matter how hard I try, and its strickly because of gaming.

I have tried to run a version of windows inside my linux install just for games, but it never works right and I have issues.

I never really got into Linux enough to really learn it well but it never did enough for me for me to hang on. But I will say, of all the distros I have tried I love Ubuntu, especially the new Gusty Gibbon, WOW its nice to install, easy to use, and it comes out of the box with great software.

I install Gutsy Gibbon on alot of customer PCs that do basic tasks like email, web browsing and media stuff. The thing that impressed me the most is how easy it is to use at any age. I have installed it for elderly customers and they love how easy it is to find stuff and get around, so if your grandma just cant figure out windows, go Ubuntu!!

[Linuxcomputersolutio]

Mandriva-Linux stated aim was to make Linux easy, easy to use and install. I think they have had success. I was never comfortable using Windows am glad that Linux is now getting to be a viable alternative. In 2008.0 Mandriva-Linux even has a utility that eases migration from Windows, all your settings and documents can now be exported into the /home folder by type so backing-up all your data is now a thing of the past. You can now just click replace Windows and read a book. Even Windows native games can either be played under Wine or Ceroba.

[jonmcc33]

Mandriva-Linux stated aim was to make Linux easy, easy to use and install. I think they have had success. I was never comfortable using Windows am glad that Linux is now getting to be a viable alternative. In 2008.0 Mandriva-Linux even has a utility that eases migration from Windows, all your settings and documents can now be exported into the /home folder by type so backing-up all your data is now a thing of the past. You can now just click replace Windows and read a book. Even Windows native games can either be played under Wine or Ceroba.

I tried PCLinuxOS 2007 (a fork of Mandriva) and found it easy to use at first but found it too easy to really screw up. I didn't find it easy to implement new packages into it either.

Tried out Solaris 10 due to past experience using it when I was in the military on Sun SPARC stations. Ugh, that was a nightmare. No thanks to the Java Desktop System.

Gave Kubuntu 7.10 a try as I prefer the KDE over Gnome. Wasn't too long before even that gave me headaches.

I have finally fallen completely for OpenSUSE 10.3. Wow, I really like the package installer although I had to add all the repositories. The look of it is also something quite nice. I have it running smooth as silk on my Dell Latitude D800 laptop right from the start. Best of all, with all my noobness to Linux distros, I have found it quite hard to screw up.

Linux distros should take a look at OpenSUSE in regards to layout, application and design. I think most Windows users would be able to easily convert to it. It honestly doesn't bore me to use as other popular distros have.

Best yet, it has huge corporate support from Novell and AMD as a sponsor.

http://en.opensuse.org